Game of the day: Wichita State 69, Bradley 49
The No. 2 ranked Shockers had little trouble notching their 30th regular season victory, dispatching Bradley summarily and with ease as Ron Baker led all scorers with 15 points and the team converted 48 percent from long-range. Gregg Marshall’s squad is now the first in men’s college basketball history to win that many games before their conference tournament. Next stop is win number 31, which could come Saturday against Missouri State, and then potentially wins 32 through 34 during Arch Madness.

Important outcomes
1) Minnesota 95, Iowa 89: Not to discount Minnesota’s victory — we saw what the ideal Richard Pitino-Gopher offense, one predicated on constant ball movement, might resemble in tonight’s contest — but Iowa is struggling to get any stops. During the past two Iowa games, both losses, the team has allowed a shocking 1.29 points per possession. Part of the problem is Melsahn Basabe’s absence; the big is suffering from an illness, and played only one minute against Wisconsin (and didn’t take the court versus Minnesota). The Hawkeyes need Basabe as a rim deterrent and also for his defensive rebounding prowess — his defensive rebounding percentage leads the team by a wide margin.

2)Saint Joseph’s 79, Dayton 53: As Rob Dauster detailed in Bubble Banter, Dayton’s tournament hopes took a hit, but since the squad has the hardest remaining A10 schedule — games against UMass, Saint Louis, and Richmond — there are still ample opportunities for the Flyers to earn an at-large bid. This was a crucial win for the Hawks, for sure, one cemented by the play of Chris Wilson and Ronald Roberts Jr.: the duo was 16 of 19 from the field.

3)Xavier 65, St. John’s 53: Xavier’s path to the NCAA tournament got a bit easier while St. John’s route got significantly more problematic. The middle of the Big East, to quote a much better wordsmith than myself, has spent the past several weeks cannibalizing itself. Four teams, a group that includes SJU and XU, are fighting for the Big East’s bid scraps. Up to two teams, and that is a generous estimtion, will make the NCAAs, and even with the Musketeers victory, Chris Mack’s team still needs at least one conference tournament win (this is assuming they win out against Creighton and Villanova).

Starred
1) Charles Buggs: “He can do some things that you are going to go, ‘Wow’, and he shows you tonight.” This was how Pitino addressed the play of his freshman. Buggs, a forward, had scored just five points this season before tonight’s 13 point eruption.

3) Jalen Reynolds: Even though St. John’s boasted a frontcourt chock full of top 100 recruits and junior college All-Americans, the Red Storm had no answer for Xavier’s redshirt freshman. Reynolds scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, thoroughly dismantling SJU’s interior.

Struggled
1) D’Angelo Harrison: The junior guard isn’t a shooter — he is a volume scorer who will have off games. Unfortunately for Steve Lavin and his staff, Harrison’s down night came at the possibly the worst time. The guard was nearly blanked from the field, making one of his eleven field goal attempts, and his point production was sorely missed in a game SJU needed to win in order to safely dance.

2) KJ McDaniels: Clemson was set to win three in a row, a feat the Tigers hadn’t accomplished since mid-January, but somehow dropped a contest to a struggling Wake Forest team. McDaniels, Clemson’s top offensive threat, could not find any semblance of offensive rhythm, and scored ten points on eleven attempts.

Hurley has led the Rams to the NCAA tournament the last two years and signed a seven-year contract with Rhode Island worth approximately $1 million per year last off-season. UConn was paying Kevin Ollie, who led the team to the 2014 NCAA title before being fired after this season, an average of $3 million per season while Kevin Stallings reportedly was due a buyout of nearly $10 million when he was fired by Pitt this season.

What Hurley will have to weigh beyond the financial circumstances will be his ability to win at either UConn or Pitt, should he decide to move on from Rhode Island.

Ollie – well, really Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright – showed you can win a national title out of the AAC at UConn. The league adding Wichita State only strengthens that point. Pitt, meanwhile, may be a tougher job now than it was when Jamie Dixon had it rolling since their move from the Big East to the ACC.

Eamonn Brennan of The Athletic joined Rob Dauster for an epic, two-hour podcast on the first weekend of the tournament. It was so good that we had to split the podcast into two parts. On this show, the two go through everything that happened in the South and West Regions, from Sister Jean to UMBC to Nevada’s comebacks to Kentucky’s chances at a Final Four.

On this show, the two go through everything that happened in the East and Midwest Regions, from Villanova and Duke steamrolling to Michigan State collapsing to Syracuse and Clemson and Texas Tech and Purdue. It’s all in there.

6. TY JEROME DOESN’T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR DUMB QUESTIONS

Having to answer questions from a bunch of reporters after suffering the most humiliating moment of your life is not an easy thing to do. Having to answer ridiculous and stupid questions could be intolerable, which is why I loved Ty Jerome’s response to a stupid question he was asked:

The worst-kept secret in college basketball no longer appears to be a secret: Penny Hardaway is going to be the next coaching at the University of Memphis.

ESPN is reporting that a deal has been agreed upon. The Memphis Commercial-Appeal is reporting that Penny was waiting for his season to end with East High School before he made anything official. NBC Sports can confirm that an announcement is expected to be made early this week, likely as soon as Tuesday, to introduce the former Memphis and NBA star as Tubby Smith’s replacement.

The truth, however, is that we all knew this was what would be happening the second that Memphis formally fired Tubby Smith. Hell, we knew it a month before that decision was made final. This was always how it was going to play out.

What’s interesting to me is now the discussion of whether or not Penny will be able to handle being a Division I head coach, because it’s been hit or miss with basketball programs hiring legends of their past. Chris Mullin and St. John’s hasn’t exactly gone to plan but Fred Hoiberg was quite successful at Iowa State. Kevin Ollie won a title with UConn then fell off a cliff. Patrick Ewing’s start wasn’t great, but he was better than expected.

Hardaway isn’t a guy who woke up one morning and decided he’d like to be a Division I head coach. He’s not a former player who got bored with retirement and decided he’d like to do something other than play golf.

Hardaway started coaching at middle school. Middle school! Because an old friend needed some help.

Then he built one of the best AAU programs in the country. Then he spent years coaching a high school team.

Does that sound like someone who doesn’t want to roll up his sleeves and do the work? Does that sound like someone who is just in it for the glory and the glitz?

The truth is, if it weren’t for Hardaway’s iconic stature, he might be characterized as a grinder, as a guy who worked his way up from the lowest levels of basketball on the strength of his relationship with the kids.

I think that this is going to work out for both Penny and Memphis, especially if Penny hires a staff that can help him with the intricacies of running a college basketball program.